Griffin v. Powers

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Practice areas

Questions Presented

1. Whether the defendant's filing of the required bond automatically vacated the judgment and triggered a ten-day period to request retransfer to the Superior Court.
2. Whether the District Court had authority to order retransfer after the statutory ten-day period had elapsed.

Holdings

1. When the defendant filed the required bond within the prescribed twenty-day period, the vacation of judgment automatically took effect, and the defendant then had ten days to request retransfer to the Superior Court.
2. The District Court had no authority to order retransfer after the ten-day statutory period had elapsed.

Factual background

The defendant did not receive notice of the District Court's original finding for the plaintiff. The District Court vacated the judgment on November 23, 1970, conditioned on the defendant's filing an $8,200 bond, which the defendant filed on December 4. The defendant did not file his request for retransfer until January 27, 1971, after the ten-day statutory period had expired.

Procedural history

The tort action was brought in the Superior Court and transferred to the District Court of Southern Essex under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 231, section 102C. After judgment for the plaintiff, the District Court vacated the judgment because the defendant had not received notice, conditioned on a bond, and later entered another finding for the plaintiff. Although the defendant filed a request for retransfer within ten days after filing the bond, the District Court's retransfer order was entered after the statutory period had expired. The Superior Court allowed the plaintiff's motion to revoke that order, and the defendant excepted.